ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - One of the most popular soccer teams in the world is finalizing a deal to bring an Elk Grove Charter alumnus to their squad. 

Club Deportivo Guadalajara, better known as Chivas, is looking to acquire Fidel Barajas, a Mexican international who currently plays for MLS side Real Salt Lake. 

The Sacramento native and Elk Grove Charter alumnus has been an impact player in his short career. The 18-year-old was named USL Championship Young Player and All-League Second Team last year with the Charleston Battery. 

In 2023, Barajas scored four goals with nine assists in the regular season with the Battery while scoring one goal and two assists in the playoffs before heading off to international duty. 

He was unable to help the Battery’s run to the USL championship, where they ultimately lost, due to being in Indonesia for the 2023 U-17 World Cup with the Mexican National Team. 

In this competition, Barajas would score with his weak foot as he sent a right-footed strike past the New Zealand goalkeeper from outside the box in Mexico's 4-0 win in Indonesia on Nov. 11, 2023. 

Although nothing has been confirmed yet from either Chivas, Real Salt Lake or Barajas, it’s rumored the deal is worth $4 million, according to sources briefed on the deal who told The Athletic.  

Chivas had been looking to acquire Barajas into its youth system since he was 12, and he was a fan of the team since he was a kid, said his parents in an interview for ESPN Deportes. 

“A coach of his, Jose Ortiz, always talked about Chivas to him and he even told him he would take him to play for Chivas because when he was 12 (Luis Fernando) Tena wanted us to send him (Fidel) when Tena was coaching Chivas,” said Fidel Barajas Sr. 

Fidel’s mother, Marisol Juarez, recalls when Chivas invited her son to visit the team, with the players talking to him and giving him advice, but ultimately she said it would have been difficult on him and the family to send him to Mexico at age 12. 

“For us, it wasn’t the correct age for him to leave home nor for us to move with him,” Juarez said. 

Six years later, Chivas and Barajas reunite to give him the opportunity to play for his favorite team. 

Chivas has the second-most league titles in Mexico’s top flight of soccer, Liga MX, where pressure is constant from the fans of Guadalajara.  

 For a long time, Chivas fielded only players born in Mexico, but it has twisted the rules a bit. 

For example, a controversy had sparked recently with the transfer of Cade Cowell to Chivas from the San Jose Earthquakes, as he plays for the US Men’s National Team but his mother was born in Mexico. 

In Article 30 of the Mexican Constitution, it states that those who are born outside of Mexico to at least one Mexican-born parent are given Mexican nationality by birthright.   

In this case, Cowell is technically Mexican. But he was heavily criticized as he was not born in Mexico, spoke Spanish and represented the US, Mexico’s rival, on the international stage. 

Barajas may receive some of this criticism, as he has represented both the US and Mexico at the youth levels but can win the fandom over as the speedy winger is an offensive threat. 

Chivas hasn’t won a league title since 2017 and looks to Barajas to spark the offense. He has two assists in 17 appearances in his first taste of top-flight soccer in MLS with Real Salt Lake.